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Jazz Articles about Miles Okazaki
Trickster: Live in Brooklyn
by Troy Dostert
If one is looking for an artist whose ambition and indefatigable spirit seemed destined to withstand the rigors of the Covid pandemic and its deleterious impact on the jazz community, guitarist Miles Okazaki could be near the top of the list. A prolific and well-recorded musician before 2020, he maintained a rigorously creative schedule after it as well, with four albums released between 2020 and 2022, not the least of which was Trickster's Dream (Pi Recordings, 2020), Okazaki's resilient reclamation ...
read moreAka Moon: Quality of Joy
by Mario Calvitti
Superato anche il traguardo dei 30 anni di attività, il trio belga degli Aka Moon ritorna con un nuovo progetto discografico, che rappresenta una summa del lavoro svolto finora, ma anche un nuovo punto di partenza verso altri orizzonti musicali. Come già accaduto in passato, al trio di base, costituito dal sassofonista Fabrizio Cassol, dal bassista Michel Hatzigeorgiou e dal batterista Stéphane Galland e rimasto invariato in tutti questi anni, si aggiunge un fitto stuolo di musicisti ospiti ...
read moreMiles Okazaki: Thisness
by Vincenzo Roggero
Potremmo farci guidare dalle stimolanti note di copertina che evocano simbolismi, sogni, correnti di pensiero tirando in ballo John Cage, Marcel Duchamp e André Breton, in un viaggio surrealista dove immagini (meravigliosi gli acquerelli di Linda Okazaki), versi dal poema di Sun Ra The Far Off Place" e procedimenti compositivi interagiscono in maniera stimolante. Oppure potremmo lasciarsi trasportare dal flusso della musica senza condizionamenti, in una sorta di tabula rasa cognitiva che favorisca un assorbimento sensoriale privo di ...
read moreAmir ElSaffar River of Sound Orchestra: The Other Shore
by Neri Pollastri
Secondo disco per la Rivers of Sound Orchestra, ensemble creato nel 2015 da Amir ElSaffar con il preciso intento di esplorare in modo originale le culture musicali delle sue origini. ElSaffar è infatti nato negli Stati Uniti da madre statunitense e padre di origini irachene; avvicinatosi precocemente alla musica, ha coltivato quella jazzistica dalla discoteca paterna e quella classica dalle frequentazioni della madre; musicista dalle collaborazioni di altissimo livello--tra gli altri Cecil Taylor e Vijay Iyer--solo da adulto si è ...
read moreJon Irabagon: Rising Sun
by Mike Jurkovic
Since his days with bassist Moppa Elliot's maddeningly inventive Mostly Other People Do the Killing, first-generation Filipino-American saxophonist Jon Irabagon has seemed to be on the periphery of the larger jazz world looking in. His big surging tone instantly and reverently recalls late era John Coltrane and has been associated with fellow adventurers Dave Douglas, Ralph Alessi, and a host of guitarist Mary Halvorson's musical configurations. With Rising Sun Irabagon sets his sights on getting his sound and vision out ...
read moreMeditations on Crime, Miles Okazaki, Kurt Elling, Maggie Jean Martin
by Ludovico Granvassu
A mystery project bearing the DNA of the late Hal Willner and Sun Ra, a project inspired by the poetry of that same Herman Poole Blount, tributes to Carla Bley and Lars Gullin, saxophonists on the rise, and a teenage sensation.Happy listening!PlaylistBen Allison Mondo Jazz Theme (feat. Ted Nash & Pyeng Threadgill)" 0:00 Meditations on Crime, King Khan, Sun Ra Arkestra We the People of the Myths" We the People of the MythsSingle (Anti-Fragile Music) 0:16 ...
read moreMiles Okazaki, Fred Moten, Billy Mohler & We Free Strings
by Maurice Hogue
New releases sampled come from guitarist Miles Okazaki & Trickster with the final piece of a trilogy, the unique ensemble We Free Strings, a powerful big band from Austria led by Barbara Bruckmüller, pianist Elias Stemeseder, bassist Billy Mohler's quartet, Swiss saxophonist Fabian Willmann, and poetry and free jazz from the trio of Fred Moten, Brandon Lopez & Gerald Cleaver. There's more poetry/music from Heroes Are Gang Leaders, plus a continued look at Albert Ayler's Revelations: The Complete 1970 Fondation ...
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